Abd el-Krim (1882-3, Ajdir –February 6, 1963, Cairo) (full name: Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi, Arabic: محمد بن عبد الكريم الخطابي, Berber name: Muḥend n Ɛabd Krim Lxeṭṭabi or Moulay Muḥend) was the Amazigh leader of a large-scale armed Berber resistance movement in the Rif, a large Berber-speaking area in northern Morocco. Together with his brother Mhemmed, he led a broad coalition of major Rifian tribes against French and Spanish colo...
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Abd el-Krim (1882-3, Ajdir –February 6, 1963, Cairo) (full name: Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi, Arabic: محمد بن عبد الكريم الخطابي, Berber name: Muḥend n Ɛabd Krim Lxeṭṭabi or Moulay Muḥend) was the Amazigh leader of a large-scale armed Berber resistance movement in the Rif, a large Berber-speaking area in northern Morocco. Together with his brother Mhemmed, he led a broad coalition of major Rifian tribes against French and Spanish colonial occupation. His guerrilla tactics are known to have influenced Ho Chi Minh, Mao Zedong, and Che Guevara.
Abd el-Krim was born in Ajdir, Morocco, the son of 'Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi, a qadi (Islamic judge) of the Aith Yusuf clan of the Aith Uriaghel (or Waryaghar) tribe. Abd el-Krim received a traditional education at a mosque school in Ajdir, followed by a period at a religious institute at Tetouan. At the age of twenty, it appears he studied for two years in Fez at the Attarine and Seffarine medersas, in order to prepare to enter the...
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